• 1842 to 1900 – Rhenish Missionary Society in South West Africa •
.
Second phase of Christianisation in South West Africa
The work of missionaries among the peoples of what was then South West Africa bore little fruit. The London Missionary Society (LMS) was active from 1806, and the Wesleyan Missionary Society (WMS) from 1834.
Both limited their activities to Great Namaqualand (present-day southern Namibia) and withdrew in 1840 and 1867, respectively, partly due to financial difficulties. For more details, see the article “1806 to 1867 – English Missionary Societies in Great Namaqualand” in this section (‘Namibia’s Past’).
Christianisation in South West Africa was not pursued more vigorously until 1842, when the Rhenish Missionary Society (RMS), founded in 1828, sent its missionaries. Its sphere of influence extended beyond Greater Namaqualand, encompassing Damaraland and Hereroland as well.
The RMS aimed to settle the nomadic groups of the Oorlam and Naman, OvaHerero and Daman. In its view, this was a crucial step toward ‘civilization’.
Therefore, its mission stations always practiced agriculture alongside animal husbandry. Missionaries had to possess both theoretical and practical knowledge of agriculture, as well as skills as craftsmen – because acquiring and transporting materials was expensive, and financial resources were limited.
Mission stations as access to traders
Missionaries established their stations with the consent, or even at the invitation, of the leaders of the groups. Their motivation was less about religion and more about practical benefits. These included access to traders and a daily supply of food; European education came later.
Many continued to embark on raids (‘komandos’) to plunder livestock and other goods, as this proved more lucrative. Livestock was needed to trade for weapons, ammunition, and horses – essential for defence and further raids.
Only women, children, the elderly, and the impoverished typically settled at the mission stations. In years with low rainfall, even they reverted to their semi-nomadic lifestyle.
Missionaries also constantly struggled with overgrazing, erosion, and poor soil. Like the OvaHerero and Oorlam/Naman, they established outposts for livestock farming. They regularly visited many of these posts to preach, which left them little time for actual missionary work.
Furthermore, the RMS missionaries, like their counterparts from the LMS and WMS, strived to learn the languages of the local peoples. Missionary Heinrich Schmelen (LMS), along with his Oorlam Nama wife Zara, translated the four Gospels of the Bible in Khoekhoegowab starting in 1822.
RMS: Hahn in Otjikango/Barmen, Kleinschmidt in !Anis/Rehoboth
The second phase of Christianisation in South West Africa, driven from 1842 onwards by the Rhenish Missionary Society (RMG). On the left, Carl Hugo Hahn (1818–1895; photo source: Klaus Dierks, Wikipedia). On the right, Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt (1812–1864; watercolour by missionary Hans Christian Knudsen, 1842; photo: Ebel Kleinschmidt, Wikipedia).
The first missionaries of the RMS arrived in the country in 1842. They began their work in |Aeǁgams (Khoekhoegowab: |Ae = hot/fire, ǁgams = water/spring). The town, founded in 1840 by Jonker Afrikaner and also called Winterhoek, was named after the mission school of the RMS Elberfeld.
Following conflicts with Jonker Afrikaner, Hahn established a station near Otjikango, west of Okahandja, in 1844. They named the place Barmen (today: Gross Barmen), after the RMS headquarters in Barmen/Wuppertal.
In 1845, Kleinschmidt moved with the ǁKhauǀgôan/Swartbooi Nama to ǀAnhes or !Anis (‘smoke’ from hot springs). He named the place Rehoboth. Hans Christian Knudsen had been working in Bethanien since 1842.
In Greater Namaqualand, the RMS was initially more successful than in Hereroland. The Oorlam living there were familiar with Christianity from their time in the Cape Colony. Many had (also) Christian names, and some were even baptized. The English missionary societies LMS and WMS had also done preparatory work among the Nama.
Furthermore, Jonker Afrikaner successfully prevented direct contact between the missionaries and groups of the OvaHerero for a long time. His primary concern was his trade monopoly. In 1853, he razed the mission station in Otjimbingwe, a hub for several trade routes, to the ground.
In addition, the OvaHerero, as proud, semi-nomadic cattle herders, were sceptical of the European concept of settled agriculture and Christianity, both in their lifestyle and their (ancestral) beliefs.
Mission schools for the OvaHerero and Oorlam/Naman elites
By the late 1860s, the RMS had established two administrative divisions. The ‘Greater Namaqualand Conference’ included mission stations such as Bethany (since 1842), Rehoboth (1845), and Scheppmannsdorf near Rooibank, close to Walvis Bay (1845).
These were followed by Berseba (1850), Leonardville (1850s), Hoachanas (1852), Gibeon (1863), and Warmbad (1867). Lüderitz was added only in 1905.
The Hereroland Conference encompassed stations such as Otjikango, west of Okahandja (from 1844), and Otjimbingwe (1849 to 1853 and again from 1864).
Omaruru (1870), Okombahe (1871), and Waterberg (1873), as well as Rietfontein near Grootfontein (1885) and Gaub (1895), followed later. Karibib was added in 1902, and Swakopmund in 1905.
In 1866, Carl Hugo Hahn founded the Augustineum in Otjimbingwe as a theological school for assistants who would then preach in their language. In 1890, it moved to Okahandja, the seat of omuhona (chief) Kamaharero.
More and more leading OvaHerero (and Oorlam/Naman) aspired to a European education. Kamaharero inquired about conditions in Europe from missionaries. He had his sons Wilhelm and Samuel baptized and sent them to missionary school. Other leading OvaHerero followed his example.
Members of this new Christian elite participated in council meetings, but were still stigmatised as ‘non-Herero’. Oorlam-Nama Hendrik Witbooi had already attended missionary schools and worked as a teacher before rising to the position of leading Kaptein in the 1890s.
At its most active around 1900, the RMS operated up to 25 main stations and even more branch stations. However, its activities were limited to the ‘police zone’ of the ‘protectorate’ of German South West Africa, declared in 1884/85.
1870 Finnish Mission, 1896 Catholic Mission, 1898 NG Kerk
The RMS entrusted the missionary work in the Aawambo region north of the Etosha Pan to the Finnish Missionary Society (Suomen Lähetysseura). Perhaps the best-known of the missionaries who arrived in the country from 1870 onward was Martti Rautanen, nicknamed Nakambale (‘the Hat-Wearer’).
Rautanen married Friederike, daughter of Franz Heinrich and Hanna (daughter of Heinrich and Zara Schmelen) Kleinschmidt, in 1872. Later he translated the Bible into OshiNdonga. He established a mission station in Olukonda near Ondangwa.
The Catholic mission only emerged in 1896 during the German colonial period, with Father Augustin Nachtwey and later Bishop Rudolf Koppmann. Initially, it focused largely on the centre of the German colony.
On the southern edge of Klein-Windhoek, the Catholic mission established a vineyard for altar wine. Analogous to the southern slope in the Northern Hemisphere, it utilised the northern slope of the “Water Hill” near the hot springs of |Ae ǁGams.
From 1906 onward, the Catholic primary school ‘Holy Cross Convent’ was founded on the ‘Roman Hill’ in (Greater) Windhoek. On the neighbouring plots, the Roman Catholic Hospital was built in 1907, followed by St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1908.
The Dutch Reformed Church came to German South West Africa not as a mission, but as a church for Boer settlers from the Cape Colony. The NG Kerk was an independent synod from Holland since 1824. In 1898, a parish was established in the south, encompassing the districts of Warmbad and Gibeon. In 1902, a parish was founded in the north, in Grootfontein.
.
Sources:
With additional, unverified and, in some cases, contradictory information from Wikipedia articles:
# ‘Missionsgeschichte in Namibia’.
# ‘Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft’, Rhenish Missionary Society.
# ‘London Missionary Society’.
# ‘Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission’.
# ‘Bethanie (Namibia)’ – German version, English version.
# ‘Rehoboth’ – German version, English version.
# ‘Warmbad (Namibia)’ – German version, English version.
# ‘Carl Hugo Hahn’ – German version, English version.
# ‘Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt’ – German version, English version.
# ‘Heinrich Schmelen’ – German version, English version.
0 Comments